MANILA (UPDATE) - The Department of Health will recommend extending travel restrictions to all countries which report a case of the new COVID-19 variant, Usec. Maria Rosario Vergeire said Monday.

The inter-agency task force on COVID-19 will be meeting on Monday morning to discuss measures the Philippines will take against the new variant, which is supposedly more contagious.

"This is urgent. We all know that the decisions will be critical and should be immediate," she told ANC's Headstart when asked about the travel ban.

"We are going to recommend that we expand the restrictions in our borders to include the other countries which also have this variant identified already," she said.

Vergeire said the government has instructed Philippine Genome Center, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, and the University of the Philippines' National Institutes of Health to do "bio-surveillance" so it can monitor all incoming passengers and detect if the new variant is in the country.

Data from October indicate that it is not yet in the Philippines, she said. The institutes are currently finishing samples from November and December "so that we can be assured that really the variant is not here in the country," she added.

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Scientists from the United Kingdom identified the new variant of COVID-19, which appears to be more contagious and genetically distinct. It was first detected in September. There is still no evidence of it being deadlier or immune from vaccines.

Flights from the UK to the Philippines were suspended until the middle of January after President Rodrigo Duterte extended it by 2 more weeks past December 31, when the original ban was supposed to lapse.

• PH extends UK travel ban until mid-January, as new COVID variant emerges

In the original IATF resolution, passengers who have been to the UK within 14 days, including those in transit, are also barred from the country.

Travelers from UK who arrived before Christmas Eve were also required to observe quarantine.

• Quarantine required for UK travelers arriving before PH ban- Duque

Apart from the UK, the new COVID-19 variant was also detected in Canada, Ireland, South Korea, Japan, South Africa, Singapore, Australia, and several other countries.

It was also reported in Sabah, a territory in the south where both Malaysia and the Philippines have a claim. The southernmost province of Sulu has sought the intervention of the IATF, particularly the suspension of repatriation of Filipinos from Sabah.

• Duterte: Sulu asks for gov’t ‘assistance’, as Sabah reportedly detects new COVID-19 strain
• Sulu wants to suspend return of Filipinos from Sabah due to new virus variant

The Philippines as of Sunday reported 469,886 total cases of COVID-19, with 22,099 active infections.

• PH virus tally near 470,000; number of tests falls as labs close for holidays

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